Town of Niagara: Spring is in the air!

Guest Editorial by Sylvia Virtuoso

Town of Niagara Supervisor

Spring is just around the corner! Lots to do! Here is a good checklist for your spring cleanup: clean gutters; inspect your roofing; pressure wash exterior; inspect, clean, repair and replace windows and doors; remove debris from around foundation; tend to your lawn and garden; clean up branches; check exterior fixtures; check for pests; scrape and paint.

•June is bulk pickup on Saturdays – and every week of the year you can put one bulk item to the curb. Electronic pickup at the Highway Garage. Old paint you can bring to Sherwin Williams (up to four cans a day). Paint collection in September (date to be announced) at Veterans Memorial Community Park.

•The reassessment is done and you will be seeing your letters shortly. It will explain your current assessment and what you have paid in taxes, your new assessment, and what your new payment will look like. There is a grievance period time where you can talk to someone about your reassessment. All of this information will be in the letter. Please follow your instructions in the letter for phone number and online process.

•Hopefully most of you have taken advantage of the Solar Simplified discount for your electricity. The town chose to participate in this endeavor to try to move toward clean energy and cost savings for all. When the town applies for grants, the more we participate in clean energy and cost savings programs, the more points we receive toward grant applications.

•New signs have been put at all entry points of the town to identify our boundaries. Thank you to our Highway Department for installing the signs.

•Follow us on Facebook, the town website and the Tribune for all the recreation, senior and “Music Mania Monday” (sponsorships and vendor spots available; email [email protected] for information) news, as well as what’s coming up for spring, summer, Easter and other events.

•Due to a high demand, we are hoping to add some pickleball courts to Veterans Memorial Park this year, if all goes well. The Town Hall parking lot has been in disrepair for a few years and, hopefully soon, will be repaved for everyone’s safety.

•We are moving along with the Sewer District transfer of flow from the NFWB to the Niagara County Sewer District. We have been awarded a grant for the study, and so we begin. It will take some time, but in the end, it will be cleaner and less expensive. The benefits will be long lasting for years ahead.

•Our zoning code needed quite a bit of updates, and we have worked on that for months; hopefully, ready for final approval in the next few months. Next will be the town code: Bring it to the needs and proper requirements of current times. An open house will be held at Town Hall from 5-6:30 p.m. March 27 for open review of the zoning update. More information to follow.

•As always, the code enforcement officers are out and about checking on permits, cleanliness, registered vehicles, as well as many other possible violations. Remember to help keep our neighborhoods and business district neat, clean and safe, moving toward that higher standard of quality living and doing business in the Town of Niagara.

•The town Welcome Mural will begin shortly, facing the Thruway on the back of Extra Space Storage. It should take a couple of months.

Lots of great things the Town of Niagara Business Liaison Committee is working on – use the QR code for more information.